Nothing could be more cruel than the treatment of this heroic girl, and all under the forms of ecclesiastical courts.  It was the diabolical design of her enemies to make it appear that she had acted under the influence of the Devil; that she was a heretic and a sorceress.  Nothing could be more forlorn than her condition.  No efforts had been made to ransom her.  She was alone, and unsupported by friends, having not a single friendly counsellor.  She was carried to the castle of Rouen and put in an iron cage, and chained to its bars; she was guarded by brutal soldiers, was mocked by those who came to see her, and finally was summoned before her judges predetermined on her death.  They went through the forms of trial, hoping to extort from the Maid some damaging confessions, or to entangle her with their sophistical and artful questions.  Nothing perhaps on our earth has ever been done more diabolically than under the forms of ecclesiastical law; nothing can be more atrocious than the hypocrisies and acts of inquisitors.  The judges of Joan extorted from her that she had revelations, but she refused to reveal what these had been.  She was asked whether she was in a state of grace.  If she said she was not, she would be condemned as an outcast from divine favor; if she said she was, she would be condemned for spiritual pride.  All such traps were set for this innocent girl.  But she acquitted herself wonderfully well, and showed extraordinary good sense.  She warded off their cunning and puerile questions.  They tried every means to entrap her.  They asked her in what shape Saint Michael had appeared to her; whether or no he was naked; whether he had hair; whether she understood the feelings of those who had once kissed her feet; whether she had not cursed God in her attempt to escape at Beauvoir; whether it was for her merit that God sent His angel; whether God hated the English; whether her victory was founded on her banner or on herself; when had she learned to ride a horse.

The judges framed seventy accusations against her, mostly frivolous, and some unjust,—­to the effect that she had received no religious training; that she had worn mandrake; that she dressed in man’s attire; that she had bewitched her banner and her ring; that she believed her apparitions were saints and angels; that she had blasphemed; and other charges equally absurd.  Under her rigid trials she fell sick; but they restored her, reserving her for a more cruel fate.  All the accusations and replies were sent to Paris, and the learned doctors decreed, under English influence, that Joan was a heretic and a sorceress.

After another series of insulting questions, she was taken to the market-place of Rouen to receive sentence, and then returned to her gloomy prison, where they mercifully allowed her to confess and receive the sacrament.  She was then taken in a cart, under guard of eight hundred soldiers, to the place of execution; rudely dragged to the funeral pile, fastened to a stake, and fire set to the faggots.  She expired, exclaiming, “Jesus, Jesus!  My voices, my voices!”